EPAM Myth Busters: What Service Design Is, And Is Not (Part 3)

Matt Farrar

There are several successful service companies that have embraced Service Design as the differentiator. AirBnB, Uber, and Nest are just a few examples. From an Outside-In perspective, these companies leverage Service Design thinking to drive customer service strategy while disrupting and innovating old and tired markets. Endless iterations continuously improve upon the customer experience, so you know the product is always getting better and better.

But If you dig deeper this is really only half of the story. If the second blog in this series was about focusing on people rather than the customer, then it should be easy to understand the natural implications that an inward focus can have on systems and process. Which brings us to the final myth in this series:

Myth #3: Service Design is about new frontiers and innovation

Innovation is part of it. But an Inside-Out Service Design mentality can radically transform internal processes that were once bogged down by complex, inefficient legacy systems. When done correctly, the Service Design methodology is used to observe, understand, map out, and visualise internal process journeys and flow. This process highlights critical inefficiencies across the internal systems, people, technology, and process. They can then be directly correlated against other metrics such as financial overheads, the cost of the people operating the systems, time taken, and effort required.

Process change and operational improvement drive efficiency savings, and often result in millions of cost savings - not to mention a more streamlined and effective internal process. Therefore, Service Design becomes an operational tool to evaluate and reengineer process within an organisation. It is change from within, Inside-Out.

Harmonising Engineering and Design

Pioneers are constantly moving forward and exploring better ways of working and solving problems. At EPAM, we are evolving the Service Design process so that it is grounded in reality, combining design aspiration though intuitive right-brain thinking with rational left-brain action. Service Design is evolving and becoming more effective and measurable for organizations looking to develop the internal change management needed to deliver an excellent Outside-In customer experience.

This evolution presents an exciting opportunity to incrementally drive Service Design to the next evolutionary proposition: In a world where engineering and design become one, and the all-encompassing word ‘digital’ is finally laid to rest.